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Sexual drive disorders
Last reviewed: 19.10.2021
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About a decrease in sexual desire, you can speak with a prolonged expressed decrease or loss of sexual desire. Individuals with such disorders show a lack of desire or interest in sexual activity, usually due to the lack of sexual fantasies.
Some people report that they had no need for sex during their entire life. In others, this problem occurs after several years of "sexual appetite". In some cases, a sexual drive disorder occurs after other sexual problems, such as a man who has experienced erectile dysfunction for several years in connection with his wife and, after all, has lost interest in sex. In the same way, a woman suffering from sexual intercourse may lose all sexual desire.
Causes and treatment Disorders associated with a decrease in sexual desire may be due to organic causes, and therefore require medical research. These problems can be hormonal in nature. In this case, the use of hormone therapy is often useful. Other causes may be depression, mental conflict (including fear of declaring their sexual needs) or problems arising during sex.
The effectiveness of treatment is in combination:
- Cognitive therapy, in which the patient's attitudes and way of thinking are oriented toward sex.
- Behavioral therapy in the form of sensitizing exercises in accordance with the requirements of sexual communication.
- Psychotherapy pairs, which discuss specific problems of sexual life, for example, when you can have sex, how to act, if a young woman does not show an independent interest in sex, etc.
Disorders manifested in sexual aversion
In disorders accompanied by sexual aversion, there is a long or often unfavorable attitude towards any sexual activity of the partner, fear of sex and avoidance of it. The most common cause of this disorder is sexual trauma. For example, one 33-year-old woman at the age of nine was raped by her stepfather. This experience left physical and mental consequences. Becoming an adult, this woman avoided any sexual contact. Other possible reasons may be fear of intimacy and intrapsychic conflicts.
Sexual psychotherapy in this disorder concentrates on overcoming fear. Initially, patients discuss the fears that cause them fear. In addition, in such cases, the use of tricyclic antidepressants may be useful.
Sexually caused pain
If a man or woman has pain during sexual intercourse, they are diagnosed with dyspareunia. This disorder is more common in women. Medical research is aimed at excluding the organic causes of this disorder, which include vaginitis (inflammation of the vagina), infectious diseases of the urinary system, vaginal scars, ligament damage, endometriosis (proliferation of the uterine lining) and purulent inflammation. If organic disorders are excluded, therapy should be aimed at overcoming the underlying fear disorder associated with the possibility of physical trauma. Recycling this fear helps to solve the problem. If a woman develops an involuntary spasm in the outer third of the vagina, which prevents the introduction of the penis, then vaginismus - spasm of the vagina is diagnosed. Sexual trauma and the fear caused by them are the main causes of this disorder. The treatment is carried out through systematic desensitization, in which the widening and stretching of the vagina is gradually achieved by inserting tampons or fingers, which over time makes penetration habitual.
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